A walk on the wild side Everyone looks so weary in Howard Yezerski Gallery's gritty documentary photos of Boston's dear departed Combat Zone from 1969 to 1978. The year's still young, but this glimpse into our past from Roswell Angier, Jerry Berndt, and John Goodman may be one of the best shows of 2010.

A walk on the wild side Everyone looks so weary in Howard Yezerski Gallery's gritty documentary photos of Boston's dear departed Combat Zone from 1969 to 1978. The year's still young, but this glimpse into our past from Roswell Angier, Jerry Berndt, and John Goodman may be one of the best shows of 2010.

Pedal promise Boston has its fair share of deserving bad reputations: the sports fans whined for some 86 years about a “curse” because the Red Sox couldn’t seal the deal; the drivers are terrible; and, thanks in no small part to those driving skills, the city’s streets were thrice voted by Bicycling Magazine as some of the worst in the country for cyclists.

Bike Week and beyond Boston is a great bicycling city. Sure, you have to deal with sociopathic, maniacal motorists who’ve never heard of a turn signal. And yes, you have to contend with a bunch of inconsiderate, entitled pedestrians who act like they own the road and can wander across the street whenever they feel like it, then give you a dirty look as you whiz by them.

Toys are us Stepping into Randy Regier’s occupation of Whitney Art Works is like entering a parallel-universe 1950s FAO Schwartz showroom gone awry.

Love by the numbers Khaela Maricich, of the Portland, Oregon-based, low-budget electro-pop group the Blow, and Britain’s dauntingly young and talented folk star Laura Marling don’t, frankly, deserve to be lumped together like this.

High fidelity “It’s a complicated subject,” says Peter Kember — a man more commonly known by his pseudonym, Sonic Boom — on the relationship between music and drugs.

Personal space If you’re in a hurry, or you’re reading this in a tweet, here are some choice Julianna Barwick keywords (thank you, every music writer!): æthereal , ghostly , and luminous .